Mike Cannon-Brookes’ chiefs exit in major Grok investment company leadership shake-up

Two of Mike Cannon-Brookes’ most senior advisers have left his Grok investment company in the latest shake-up for the billionaire’s private investment interests.

Jeremy Kwong-Law has departed as Grok Ventures’ chief investment officer.

Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has lost two top executives from his private investment company, Grok Ventures, just weeks after a funding round for the ambitious $40bn SunCable development that aims to send Australian solar supplies to Singapore fell flat.

Grok’s chief executive Tan Kueh and chief investment officer Jeremy Kwong-Law “are moving on”, according to a LinkedIn post.

The tech titan’s climate investments will now be led by Casey Taylor, the chief executive of his family office, Cannon-Brookes Collective. She will also oversee philanthropic arm Boundless Earth led by Eytan Lenko.

Tepid investor interest to date in Grok’s biggest project, SunCable, has undermined one of the largest renewable developments in the world.

A year after kicking off initial talks with fellow billionaires and more than three months after approaching external investors with a formal investment flyer, sources told The Australian in June that there had been limited interest from outside financiers in stumping up money for the renewable vision.

Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes Picture: Supplied

Ms Kueh, appointed as Grok boss in January 2024, first approached wealthy US families and prospective financiers for Sun Cable investment in July 2024 with a formal pitch delivered to Australian investors in the last three months. She joined Grok after holding senior roles at Macquarie, UBS and BlackRock.

Her appointment last year saw Mr Kwong-Law, himself a former Grok executive, moved to chief investment officer amid a change in strategy to focus on climate financing and accepting third party funding to turbocharge action on climate.

Grok said both executives had “played a huge role in Grok’s journey and our mission to decarbonise the planet.”

“Tan has amplified Grok’s presence and made massive strides on SunCable, accelerating progress of the project across Asia Pacific,” Grok said in its social media post.

“As employee #1, Jeremy has had a huge impact over the last nine years – from unearthing some of our earliest seed deals, through to driving the landmark effort to reshape AGL.”

Mr Cannon-Brookes is AGL Energy’s largest shareholder via Grok.

It caps a tumultuous few years since the Atlassian co-founder separated from his wife Annie in July 2023 after 13 years of marriage.

In February this year, Mr Cannon-Brookes won a court fight against his once-trusted family office executive.

Former company secretary of Cannon-Brookes Services Kevin Chiu was ordered not to destroy any confidential information in his possession, after he allegedly leaked an email containing a folder called “HR back up” to Mr Cannon-Brookes’ estranged wife and the company’s ex-chief financial officer Catherine Manuel.

Starting with under $30m in 2016, the family office has now invested several billion dollars across dozens of decarbonisation deals spanning energy, transport and agriculture including green financier Brighte, the giant Sun Cable renewable export project and solar start-up SunDrive.

Mr Kwong-Law, also a former Macquarie banker, rose to prominence as one of the advisers behind Grok’s swoop on electricity retailer AGL with a high-profile campaign to speed up a switch to renewables.

Mr Kwong-Law’s introduction to Mr Cannon-Brookes came through his mentor Niki Scevak, who co-founded venture capital fund Blackbird Ventures and remains a friend of the tech executive.

Grok said the management changes announced on Friday “will help us move with more speed and impact. The climate challenge isn’t slowing down, and neither are we,” the company said.

“Grok remains committed to making bold investments that push us towards a better tomorrow.”

Mr Cannon-Brookes is the third-wealthiest Australian, according to The Australian’s Richest 250, with an estimated wealth of $29.45bn.

SunCable is pursuing its bold strategy after a spectacular fallout just two years ago between Mr Cannon-Brookes and another billionaire, Fortescue executive chair and green energy evangelist Andrew Forrest.

SunCable was placed into administration in January 2023 after a dramatic disagreement between its then two high-profile backers, who clashed over different views on the optimal funding package and strategic vision for the project.